Friday, August 31, 2012

Digital media convergence essay: Advertising

Sam Rochlin 42501040

Digital Media
Convergence

In
1992, there were an estimated 1 million Internet-capable devices in use. Today
that number exceeds 1 billion. This has lead to a rapid increase in electronic
marketing. Developments in technology have opened up many new avenues for
marketers to communicate their message to the consumer. These new avenues can
reach a larger audience and also be more effective at capturing the target
market’s attention. In discussing the phenomenon of digital media convergence I
will be focusing on the topic of advertising and how digital convergence has
changed how products and services are marketed.

Developments
in technology in the last fifty years have lead to some of the most useful and
innovative inventions. They have allowed humans to interact over vast distances
with ease and have made existing on Earth much easier. The thought of future
technological developments can create excitement as we are constantly searching
for the next best thing:

Ian
Goldin raises some interesting ideas regarding the potential changes
technological advances may bring in the future. These potential changes are not
without their downsides.

It
is reported that the average American is exposed to an average of 3,000 advertising
messages per day. That statistic alone is mind-boggling. Although we take pity
on ourselves, for we are the ones being bombarded by this insane amount of
advertisements, the competition for advertising space and the constant struggle
to stand out amongst the crowd makes the modern day marketer’s job somewhat
difficult. The online article “Beyond convergence” by Morrison Sheehan supposes
a reason for why the average consumer experiences such a high exposure to
advertisements “The ubiquity of wireless access makes it possible to never
log on or off to the Internet. This allows consumers constant access to
information and messages of interest”. The Internet
provided a whole new medium for marketers. Marketing firms were quick to act as
they are constantly under pressure to come up with innovative ways of capturing
target markets’ attention.

Traditional
methods of advertising such as on billboards, direct mail and television took
time to reach the intended audience and are often considered quite expensive.
Another disadvantage is that these advertising media are quite broad in that a
product or service marketed through one of the above means may only appeal to a
small percentage of the viewing market, thus the message is lost amongst the
sea of thousands. Marketing through the Internet however can be relatively
cheap and is often more effective at gaining the attention of the targeted
audience. This idea can be seen in Tiger Beer’s approach to online marketing. The
attraction of social media sites such has Facebook has exploded over the past
decade. These types of site, including Twitter and Youtube for example, have
enabled people to keep in touch with ease. Physical distance limitations
between people are no longer an issue. It is not only individuals taking
advantage of these sites. Companies such as Tiger Beer have utilised them in a
very intuitive manner. The high number of users on social networking sites
allows for a whole new audience to be targeted by such companies. Tiger Beer
has shown that through proper marketing methods, this new and emerging market
can reap sizeable rewards. By producing limited edition Tiger Beer bottles, the
company was able to excite their target market. It also allowed them to get
across their “cool” product marketing approach.

Tiger Beer’s Limited edition bottles

The three limited
edition designer bottles were smartly marketed through the Facebook Tiger Beer
fan page. The Facebook fan page played a key role in the online promotion of
the product. With 18,000 fans joining over the short period of two months, the
company had a direct line of communication to their target audience, which was
key to the experienced success.

Relating
back to Ian Goldin’s “Navigating our global future” video, he is not the only
one apprehensive about what the future may bring. Dwyer shares similar ideas in
his Media Convergence article. Both men look at rapid past growth patterns and
share some uncertainty regarding what is install for humans in the years to
come. Ian states that our current mobile phones are more powerful than some of
the most advanced computers of twenty years ago. With past behaviour being the
best predictor of future behaviour, who knows what sorts of breakthroughs are
yet to come. Relating back to advertising, towards the end of Dwyer’s article
he talks about the Internet, advertising and search businesses. He states “The
US Internet advertising market was reported to be worth between $US20-40
billion in 2007, and some commentators expect it to grow to $US80 billion by
2010”. Economists estimate that number to top $200 Billion by 2014 [1]. This
growth of Internet advertising goes to show how vibrant and active the online
market place is. The potential growth and access to such a wide audience is
very attractive to marketers and breeds creativity, which is helped along with
developments in technology. For example, online rich display and video
advertisements have been proven to boost purchase intent over the Internet. A
survey conducted by the global research agency Millward Brown, which observered
over 80 Australian ad campaigns, found that measures of brand awareness, brand
favourability and purchase intent were significantly higher among respondents
exposed to video and rich display ads than simple flash or static ads.

Although
making a rich media ad possible requires much more complex technology to ensure
that all of the ad behaviours function properly, the study found that these
rich display and video ads not only achieve higher online engagement rates, but
are also up to four times more effective at building brand measures than the
average campaign. With rich media, you can have ads that expand when users
click or roll over them. There are extensive possibilities for interactive
content, which makes traditional forms of advertisements, such as newspaper
ads, seem prehistoric.

It
is amazing to see how far we have come over the past few decades. Whatever it
may be, from smart phones to automatic can openers, technological improvements
make our lives easier and I for one am excited to see what the future has in
store.

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Welcome to the Online Essay Blog for MAS110: Introduction to Digital Media Production students enrolled in Lab 5, Semester 2, 2012.

Student posts will examine a range of digital media productions, theories, themes, concepts and ideas within an academic context. Posts will refer to the MAS110 lecture series, class reader and make links with wider research in the field.

MAS110 is a first year subject for B. Arts (Media) students at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.